Well-respected by the Democrat Party and liberals, Byrd is often given a “pass” on his earlier affiliation with a white supremacist group. Senator Byrd served as an active member of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) attaining the offices of Kleagle (recruiter) and Exalted Cyclops.

Byrd joined the KKK when he was 24 in 1942. His local chapter unanimously elected him the top officer of their unit.

According to Byrd, a Klan official told him, “You have a talent for leadership, Bob… The country needs young men like you in the leadership of the nation.” Byrd later recalled, “Suddenly lights flashed in my mind! Someone important had recognized my abilities! I was only 23 or 24 years old, and the thought of a political career had never really hit me. But strike me that night, it did.”

I cannot shed a tear on the passing of this man. Sometimes evil is in the heart of man and displayed for all to see.

I feel sorry for the state of WV who didn’t have adequate Senate representation during the past 20 years while Byrd’s brain turn to mush.

I mean sure he was a dye in the wool racist… And sure he plundered every penny he could for his own pet projects… And yeah he was so far past it he could not see sanity with a telescope… And yes the same political machine that calls average every day Americans racist if they so much as shake their heads in Obama’s direction protected him for decades… But at least he ummm… errr… hmmmm….. come to think of it I cant think of a nice thing to say either.

However, from the point of view of liberty, the timeliness of his passing cannot be overlooked.

As a Senate Democrat, he could be counted upon to vote in the affirmative for the so-called financial reform act, and to vote for the seating of Elena Kagan.

Now I suspect Senate Republicans are huddling to lay out a strategy. Perhaps now they can persuade Dodd to roll back some of the more egregious points of the finance reform bill.

It will be interesting to watch how this plays out. The Dem governor of WVA has indicated he won’t appoint himself to serve out Byrd’s term.
So whom does he appoint? And how long will the process take?

I can’t feel too sorry for West Virginia and its lack of Senate representation. They had several opportunities to vote out Byrd, and they chose not to, by decent margins. Yes, Byrd long outlived his purpose, and then some, as WV Senator, and it’s a shame it took his death to finally have him unseated.

9: I’m not talking about how long he stayed in office, although West Virginians currently have the right to put someone who may not be “all there” in office if they like however ill-advised that may be, I support term limits which would prevent Republicans from staying too long as well like Strom Thrumond and Jesse Helms. I’m referring to this:

“I cannot shed a tear on the passing of this man. Sometimes evil is in the heart of man and displayed for all to see.”

Byrd disavowed his membership in the Klan, just like Thurmond did his pro-segregationist Dixiecrat campaign from the 1940s. Personally I think both men were products of their time and were still had some residual racism even if though they rejected their pasts. Yet I have no idea nor does Bruce nor does anyone else here. Whatever was in their hearts decades later is between God and them, and regardless it’s tasteless to post comments like these right after the man’s death.

He did apologize and continue to apologize for his KKK membership, but I can see other people’s reason for continuing to condemn him for it. I would like to believe he was truly repentant of that past and strove to move from it and make himself better.

This morning I called my cousin in WV. He said that his family was going to celebrate the passing. For years they thought Byrd was a embarrassment to the State. Bruce, I am sure they would approve of everything that you wrote.

He was 24 in 1942. Why did he not serve in WW2?
Just wondering….
I guess black people were more of a threat to this great nation than the Nazis, and a man of his talents and opinions was more valuable in WV than in Germany.

Byrd disavowed his membership in the Klan, just like Thurmond did his pro-segregationist Dixiecrat campaign from the 1940s.

And yet, until, on, and after the day he died, Thurmond was still being vilified as a “racist” by the very same people who were lionizing Byrd as “the conscience of the Senate”.

To me, Byrd exemplifies the Obama Party mindset. He clearly thought black people were inferior. However, he also realized that, by manipulating them, he could get and hold political power. He never stopped his Klan-supporting behavior; he simply utilized the tools of affirmative action and other liberal methods to infantilize black Americans.

My point of view is this; we cannot know the evil in a man’s heart, but we are in a position to review the actions. That being said, John Donne’s immortal words are best when responding to death; “Ask not for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.”

“I shall never fight in the armed forces with a Negro by my side… Rather I should die a thousand times, and see Old Glory trampled in the dirt never to rise again, than to see this beloved land of ours become degraded by race mongrels, a throwback to the blackest specimen from the wilds.”

Is it possible to be a grand kleegle wizard in the KKK and EVER live that down or convince others it was just bad judgement? I mean come on! You gotta be pretty crazy nutts on race to ever RISE TO THAT LEVEL!

NDT: And yet, until, on, and after the day he died, Thurmond was still being vilified as a “racist” by the very same people who were lionizing Byrd as “the conscience of the Senate”.

So what you’re saying then is that conservatives should be or are no better than liberals?

To me, Byrd exemplifies the Obama Party mindset. He clearly thought black people were inferior. However, he also realized that, by manipulating them, he could get and hold political power. He never stopped his Klan-supporting behavior; he simply utilized the tools of affirmative action and other liberal methods to infantilize black Americans.

A viewpoint both he and Thurmond may or may not have held for all their lives, not just decades ago. Beats me. Only God knows for certain.

My point of view is this; we cannot know the evil in a man’s heart, but we are in a position to review the actions.

Bruce: And yet, John, Byrd used the “N-word” on national television in the 1990s.

There may not have been cameras around but I’m willing to wager that Helms and Thurmond, of the same generation, did likewise probably not even thinking it was racist when they used it because they grew up with the word as referring to blacks. They were products of their time and frankly all 3 of them, with Kennedy and a number of others, should have been forced into retirement long ago yet the people of their respective states believed otherwise unfortunately.

You cannot condemn a Republican for smaller discretions and not completely reject this man for much more grave crimes against his fellow citizens

I don’t. I’m saying that none of us know what was in Byrd’s heart when he died, tasteless commentary about the man right after his death is unbecoming and rather hypocritical given the justified anger at similar comments from the left when a Republican they dislike dies, past behavior he repented of no more moves me to condemn Byrd the Elder anymore than it does Helms or Thurmond the Elders.

Yes. Tell me, if ANY republican hasd EVER been recorded saying #22. . .he woudl bge hounded his whole life. . not called “THe conscience of the senate” Or the “Soul of the senate”

And you DO know why democrats love mentioning Strom thurmond? Because of the democratic senators voting against the Civil rights act. . you care to guess how many others actually did not retire as democrats?

So what you’re saying then is that conservatives should be or are no better than liberals?

In what sense, John?

In a vacuum, I see no particular reason for conservatives to be vicious about Byrd; after all, a man is dead, it seems rather crass to criticize him when he’s not around to defend himself, and most of the events about which we are speaking happened long ago. It is treating him as we would like to be treated.

But this is not a vacuum. We have seen what the Obama Party and liberals are doing to people like Strom Thurmond. We are aware of the fact that the Obama Party is calling anyone who participates in the tea parties Nazis. We are seeing every day the attempt by the Obama Party to paint anyone who disagrees with them on anything as racists.

The Israelis are faced with this every day. Their enemy, who has sworn to kill them all, hides its rocket launchers in schools and in civilian areas. Attacking them will kill civilians; not attacking them will result in civilians being killed.

Keep in mind that the Jesus who said we should turn the other cheek is the same one who violently turned the moneychangers out of the temple. The point, in my humble opinion, is that while Jesus expected Christians not to be pushy, His intention was not that they be pushovers.

In short, the difference between conservatives and liberals is not that conservatives don’t know how to fight fire with fire; it’s that conservatives know how to fight with methods other than fire. That’s just the one that we’re faced with now.

I am sadly “amused” that Democrats are still overlooking Byrd’s rank racism. After all, they have made an art form at crucifying Republicans who shuffles their feet under bathroom stall partitions.

Robert Byrd was hale and hearty enough to be a welder during WWII, but somehow the leadership skills he showed as KKK wizard grand kleagle and exalted cyclops were only enough to get the local draft board to pass over him time and time again. After all, no other 24 year old West Virginian was drafted.

Robert Byrd was a legend in his own mind. He meticulously presented his “good” profile when appearing on TV. You could call in to his official phone line and listen to him play the violin and give homilies about the Roman Senate and recipes for drinks and sugary treats.

But, beneath it all was a career politician who was given away to relatives as a baby, worked to gather food for the family and their pigs, and ended up making a tidy fortune on government pay. It never ceases to amaze me how extra darn well politicians do with the same salaries many people in the middle class get.

He achieved the distinction of being the longest serving Senator. Let that be his epitaph. The sub-plots to that record include the worst characteristics in human nature. May he compost in peace and feed a daisy or two.

But this is not a vacuum. We have seen what the Obama Party and liberals are doing to people like Strom Thurmond. We are aware of the fact that the Obama Party is calling anyone who participates in the tea parties Nazis. We are seeing every day the attempt by the Obama Party to paint anyone who disagrees with them on anything as racists.

Something we’ve seen for most of my life in one form or another. The fact that liberals cannot even wait until the body is cold before launching into an attack mode on the deceased is no reason that conservatives so do likewise, unless of course they are both but two sides of the same coin. You are attempting to justify the unjustifiable and that which rightly angers you when it comes from the other side. That’s the very definition of hypocrisy.

The Israelis are faced with this every day. Their enemy, who has sworn to kill them all, hides its rocket launchers in schools and in civilian areas. Attacking them will kill civilians; not attacking them will result in civilians being killed.

Irrelevant and unnecessarily hyperbolic comparison that has zilch to do with the current matter. The DNC is many things, “useful idiots” in some cases, but Hamas it is not.

Keep in mind that the Jesus who said we should turn the other cheek is the same one who violently turned the moneychangers out of the temple. The point, in my humble opinion, is that while Jesus expected Christians not to be pushy, His intention was not that they be pushovers.

If you want to bring religion so explicitly into this, I remind you that Jesus never said to emulate His actions with the moneychangers for He is the Messiah and Judge not us. I also doubt the Apostles would agree with the application of this example, as seen in the Epistles like 1 Peter 3:8-18. In short, “do not return evil for evil, or insult for insult”.

In short, the difference between conservatives and liberals is not that conservatives don’t know how to fight fire with fire; it’s that conservatives know how to fight with methods other than fire. That’s just the one that we’re faced with now.

Than employ those other methods instead of lowering yourself by copying the debasing tactics of those you criticize.

I agree with the comment about feeling sorry for the people of WV with regards to being represented by someone who was not functioning to the very best of his ability (written as nice as I could). It’s a very selfish act to occupy a House or Senate seat when one’s health surely doesn’t allow it. Ted Kennedy did the same thing. These men and women need to do right by their constituents, and allow for a replacement. Actually, there should be a mandatory retirement age of say 78 years old. There are plenty of capable people (preferably moderate to conservative) in this land of 320 million people who should be given the opportunity to serve.

Not to defend the old buzzard, but it was not uncommon for skilled welders and other highly trained and skilled machinists, tool and die makers…even draftsmen and engineers…to be exempted from the draft during WW2. Some were even disallowed from volunteering as their skills were deemed “essential to the war effort”.

My grandfather sat on a draft board in a district that included several vital shipyards, refineries and aviation subcontractors. As a kid he told me that they had to battle to keep skilled men working in the yards rather than enlisting. And there was a constant P.R. campaign to remind them and the public that there was “no shame” in being told to stay behind at their tools. This was also true in the coal and iron mines and the oil-fields.

In WW1, my grandfather had similarly been sent home from officer-training school after commissioning. He was then a civil engineer and surveyor, and his specialty at that time was laying and aligning the keel-blocks and supports for ship-building launching-ways. The Army said that they could always get another artillery corps 2nd Lt., but shipping building was a greater immediate priority….so back he went to the shipyard in Gloucester.

Lets get something straight. The late senator used the term “White Nigger” in 2001 on 60 Minutes. So yes, there were television cameras. And no, I do NOT believe that Sen. Byrd changed his views. He voted against BOTH Thurgood Marshall and Clarence Thomas for the Supreme Court. Coincidence? I think not. he was just a smart enough Democrat politician that knew he could not keep ranting about Blacks and still keep his job. He just did so on the downlow.

Irrelevant and unnecessarily hyperbolic comparison that has zilch to do with the current matter.

Thoroughly relevant, John.

Like Hamas, the Obama Party, liberals, and progressives are not operating in any rational frame of reference at this point. They are complete and total moral relativists, willing to do anything to get and keep power, and they frankly don’t care who they hurt.

The only thing they understand is being hurt. And they depend on your self-imposed unwillingness to hurt to survive.

Hamas does not go into civilian villages out of pure randomness. They go in because they know the Israelis do not want to kill civilians. They then, in an ideal situation, can lob whatever they want at the Israelis, killing and wounding them, and the Israelis will not respond accordingly out of fear of killing civilians.

Similarly, the Obama Party, liberals, and progressives smear Republicans and conservatives because they know that Republicans and conservatives don’t want to do that. It is classic Alinsky; use your opponent’s own principles against them.

The secret is to think beyond the basic principle and why you don’t want to do it. I don’t particularly like attacking civilians, but if it’s a choice between that and allowing Hamas to operate scot free, the only thing that will happen out of my principles is a dead unit and a live Hamas — which is only good for Hamas, and in fact endangers MORE civilians.

If you want to bring religion so explicitly into this, I remind you that Jesus never said to emulate His actions with the moneychangers for He is the Messiah and Judge not us. I also doubt the Apostles would agree with the application of this example, as seen in the Epistles like 1 Peter 3:8-18. In short, “do not return evil for evil, or insult for insult”.

If you review 1 Peter 3, John, you will note that those are directed primarily towards your interactions with other Christians. Again, it is an ideal to follow, but at the same time, what is the greater principle? If by acting, you confront and stop a greater evil, what is the correct answer?

Similarly, the Obama Party, liberals, and progressives smear Republicans and conservatives because they know that Republicans and conservatives don’t want to do that. It is classic Alinsky; use your opponent’s own principles against them.

Are you looking to add a codicil to Godwin’s Law? I understand your point but it falls flat when you engage in such hyperbolic and erroneous comparisons as this, worthy of Alinsky I might add, by attempting make the DNC the moral equivalent of Hamas.

If you review 1 Peter 3, John, you will note that those are directed primarily towards your interactions with other Christians.

I do believe you need to re-read this chapter because it doesn’t say what you think it does. Certainly the relationship between husband and wife is discussed but unless Christians were in the habit of martyring each other durig St. Peter’s time it’s clear to whom Christians are to accept suffering from as well as return good for their evil.

Again, it is an ideal to follow, but at the same time, what is the greater principle? If by acting, you confront and stop a greater evil, what is the correct answer?

Evil in the for the sake of good is no virtue. Or as St. Pete put it:

Do not return evil for evil, or insult for insult; but, on the contrary, a blessing, because to this you were called, that you might inherit a blessing. For: “Whoever would love life and see good days must keep the tongue from evil and the lips from speaking deceit, must turn from evil and do good, seek peace and follow after it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears turned to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against evildoers.”